Alternate Best Actor 2009: Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious Man

Michael Stuhlbarg did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Lawrence "Larry" Gopnick in A Serious Man.

A Serious Man follows a Jewish professor in Minnesota dealing with several strains all at once. 

A Serious Man very much is the spiritual successor to Barton Fink, in terms of the Coen Brothers using a very clearly established Jewish protagonist and dealing with a very cerebral story. While there are of course many differences between these stories, most notably perhaps the setting from the theoretical glitz and glamor of Hollywood against the mundanity of the suburbs in the 60s. The protagonists of Larry and Barton though are similar men in terms of trying to figure out what is going on around them however the essential difference is Barton is doing so through creative storytelling whereas Larry is dealing with Math. And in that sense there lies the pivotal difference in these stories of a kind of need but failure to find answers, and we see this in the performance of Michael Stuhlbarg in his breakout role. Stulhbarg begins the film very much as an average man of any sort, even if in a specific job and a specific religion. It's very much an inviting performance, more so than John Turturro as the extremely insecure Barton, as Stuhlbarg's work doesn't seek to separate Larry from the viewer, even if some traits Larry the viewer may not share. We see him go about his job as a professor and Stuhlbarg brings an unfussy likability to the part. He's not trying to charm anyone, but he's charming enough as just an average guy you might run into. There are no extra mannerisms, no obvious fixation, just a man going about his day and teaching about a dead cat. 

The troubles of Larry seem to almost immediately begin as a foreign student asks Larry for a higher grade, despite not successfully completing the work. Stuhlbarg's performance in this scene really accentuates Larry as fair enough in accentuating the why for the low grade and just trying to explain that anything more would be unfair. He's not at all pompous or pushy about it, he's just trying to explain his position as clearly as he can, albeit if slightly awkward just from the situation. And Stuhlbarg brings really what is likability just through the lack of pretension about Larry in this moment and emphasis the man trying to deal with the situation as clearly as he can. Even when answering a cryptic call from one of the most aggravating cinematic villains of Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed), Stuhlbarg's reaction is just of slight confusion before discovering the student left a high monetary bribe, which Stuhlbarg's immediate reaction of distress about sets up Larry as a pretty straightforward man. Although these first couple of scenes might seem small, they are important in that Stuhlbarg shows us the content enough man before what is going to befall him. The man who is easy enough to sympathize if not empathize with, creates a complete lack of barriers again, regardless if one lives in Minnesota or is of the Jewish faith. One can easily like Larry as Stuhlbarg establishing him as an average if technically specific, man. 

Although this is when the crumbling begins and Stuhlbarg's performance begins as a hilarious straight-man performance, while hilarious, also never less than very human as we see him deal with his family. Some matters do seem minor, whether it is his children fighting over their mutual pilfering of Larry's money for various ends, his son's constant demand that his dad fixes the tv antenna so that way he'll be able to watch F-Troop, or his older unemployed brother (Richard Kind) always seemingly taking up extra room in various parts of the house  These seemingly minor, though they do add up, where Stuhlbarg's has a great quiet sense of just taking it all in with every reaction, though initially just with kind of a slightly longer breath goes about taking care of what he can and exist around with what he has to. What is less easy to deal with is as his wife announces to him that she wants a divorce that way she can marry Sy Abelman. Stuhlbarg's reaction here is more fundamental in his disbelief and his trying to keep it calm yet just exuding sudden anxiety. Stuhlbarg's wonderful in his ability to kind of create the insanity of being sane at the moment, of trying to be reasonable in what is not all that reasonable of a situation. Stuhlbarg shows the man was genuinely taken aback by it all and what is humorous, though also still very easy to emphasize, is the modesty of the reaction, which isn't unemotional, rather this sort of societal shield of not getting upset, because that is what is expected of him. 

Unfortunately for poor Larry, those troubles only add on top of each other, and in the first meeting between Larry, his wife, and Sy, we get an extra dose of torture. As not only are they essentially flaunting the affair in front of his face, though they both are so good at ensuring that nothing inappropriate has gone on, they are also almost patronizing as they make suggestions for Larry including asking Larry to sleep at a local motel rather than his own home. Stuhlbarg's exceptional in this scene because I love how with everything Sy says, Stuhlbarg's delivery is of true befuddlement in the face of such a man, who can be so courteous while in the act of cuckolding him, though with his wife Stuhlbarg begins to display the first sharp edges in Larry, such as the pent up frustration when he insists he'll see a lawyer as she's been demanding. A pivotal, and brilliant moment, in Stuhlbarg's performance as he suggests that his wife simply move in with Sy, which Stuhlbarg delivers with the perfect modest "well obvious" type delivery, which the reaction of the two is complete horror at the suggestion, which Stuhlbarg's reaction of Larry's own disbelief is pure gold. Stuhlbarg shows really the armor of the serious man falls away as he tries to deal with what are these personal attacks, that are presented with such pleasantries. 

Larry's life though only continues to spiral and Stuhlbarg is our navigator through every moment. Some are minor in their subdued comedy, like his befuddlement in observing his aggressively AHHHmerican neighbors who are leaning on his land and constantly playing the same game of catch over and over again. His quietly lusty glances towards another neighbor who sunbathes in the nude and is fairly welcoming when Larry perhaps gives in to some lesser impulses of hers. Or the continued behavior of his brother, who is first caught gambling, then later soliciting a man, and in every and each of these Stuhlbarg quietly finds just the right reaction to amplify each moment as this man just taking it all in as he can. What he's less able to just take in is the constant more extreme barrage upon him, with his financial strain as he must use lawyers or even more so his inability to find any help for his concerns by talking to his local rabbis, two who give him only more uncertainty, and one who refuses to speak with him. Stuhlbarg is exceptional in just taking it all in and becoming this ball of frustration that slowly becomes more and more tense. I love especially his conversation with a pushy record scam company, where Stuhlbarg launches in both confusion and emotional desperation after he attempts to talk about the situation after having been in a car accident. Stuhlbarg begins to let more and more out in his pent frustration, and from where we start there is a real punch to each and everyone, both comedic and emotional as Larry begins to crumble. 

And what is this story if not of uncertainty, which Stuhlbarg presents as a man trying and often failing to reason with life. And unlike Barton from Coens' previous venture into the life of the mind, we have a man who calculates rather than creates and it is hard to make an equation work with these variables. And all this is very funny to see the reaction to this madness, to only become more frustrated by the lack of answers and continued insanity, however, what I love about Barton Fink and this film, is as much as the men are going through a ringer, there is never a true detachment in this process. This is essential and brought forth most strongly by the central performances. Throughout the film there are moments where we do get maybe a little bit of solace, or just maybe some comfort in humanity, when Larry is truly experiencing family, and not as some hostile group. Take the moment where he talks to his sister, where Stuhlbarg brings a quiet tenderness in this scene of trying to figure it out. Or the, although it's a dream, scene where he sends his brother off to Canada, Stuhlbarg suggests some honest comfort in this familial connection. Most of all though we have the near-climactic Bar Mitzvah for his son, where Stuhlbarg's reaction is great at the sincerity of the love and joy we do see in Larry as he just can enjoy this brief moment in his life. Stuhlbarg creates an essential heart within it all, to make this a portrait that is in part darkly comic as we just see the building of every woe, but also very much giving an honest life to the human condition of trying to figure out what it all means.